Through the studying these past couple weeks, we’ve been looking at some of the reasons why we’re teaching. Most of us started with the idea for the students, or learners, but what are we explicitly try to teach them, or what are we teaching them for? What’s the curriculum really about?
One of my presentations is about Paulo Friere and the pedagogy of the oppressed. In order to teach for liberation we need to make sure that we are open to learning about ourselves and using dialogue to empower all learners.
When we really get down into our teaching, when do we oppress some of our learners, who do we silence, whose voices aren’t we listening to or appreciating?
It’s been a lot of reflecting these last couple of weeks, but interesting ideas.
Joe Teft 